Decisions
by Orange Bulldog
Summary: Chosen ends slightly differently. Warning character death, but it's all good, really. Read it and you'll see. Please review!


Disclaimers: 

These are obviously not my characters, I'm just borrowing them from Joss Whedon and anyone else who owns them.

If you have issues with people of the same sex loving each other, or live someplace where that's illegal (in which case, consider moving) please move on.

Pairing: Willow/Tara

Rating: PG-13

* * *

"Anya! An, where are you?" Xander ran through the halls of the school, searching for Anya, but he couldn't find her anywhere. He was about to give up when he ran into Buffy.

"Xander, we have to get out, NOW!"

He started to follow her but then remembered Willow. "Wait, Willow. She doesn't know."

Buffy screeched to a halt. Running back to the principal's office, they found her slumped over with a grin on her face.

"Will, get up, we have to get out of here." They each grabbed her under an arm and helped her up.

"What, what's going on?" the witch asked in a daze.

"The place is gonna blow. We have to get out." Buffy explained.

"Go, go, I'm slowing you down." She murmured.

"Will, get real, we'd never leave you."

Just then a powerful explosion rocked the school, and a blast of light came shooting out, passing through the three friends.

* * *

"Where are we?" Willow asked, looking around. 

"I don't know." Xander echoed. He let go of Willow, who seemed to be capable of standing on her own now.

Buffy's eyes went wide. "I….I think I do."

Her friends turned to her.

"I've been here before."

"When? Where is it?" the two talked at the same time.

"Right after I jumped off Glory's tower." She admitted.

"You mean….we're dead?" Willow looked down at her hands. She touched Xander. "You feel real. I don't feel dead."

"It does make sense." Xander mused. "Except that I don't seem to be upset about it. Wouldn't you think we'd be more upset if we were dead? Is this heaven?"

Buffy shook her head. Just then a beautiful woman in a flowing white robe walked up to them, though they couldn't have said where she was before.

"Hello, welcome."

"Wow, how cliché." Xander joked.

"Excuse me?"

"Are you an angel? I mean, you look just like what they look like in the movies."

The woman smiled. "You may think of me as an angel if you wish. I am the Messenger."

"So we are dead." Willow piped up.

The messenger inclined her head. "You are aware already then. Good."

"Buffy remembered this place. But she says it isn't heaven, are you going to take us there?" the witch responded.

She looked startled. "Oh my, yes, Buffy of course. I remember you now. No wonder you are so at ease. Even last time you were at peace with death."

Willow looked guiltily at her shoes.

"Hey, Will, it's fine." Buffy squeezed her friend's hand.

"Yes, Willow and Alexander you must be." The Scoobies nodded.

"Xander." He corrected her.

"Xander, then. I don't know what Buffy remembers, but this is the waiting room."

"Waiting for what?"

"The Decision."

Willow's eyes went wide. "You mean like Heaven or Hell? You have to put Buffy back in Heaven, you have to!"

The Messenger smiled. "If she was in Paradise before, I'm sure she will be again. The Decision usually comes rather quickly, unless there are disturbing circumstances." She looked up as if listening to something. "In fact, Buffy's Decision has been made already. Please come with me."

"Wait! What about my friends?"

"They must wait for their own Decision."

"But…will I see them again?"

"If their Decision is the same as yours, yes."

Buffy looked at her friends. "Well I guess I'll see you in Heaven then." She took the hand of the Messenger and they faded away.

Willow looked at her lifelong friend. "Xander, whatever happens…tell Tara I love her, okay?"

"What?"

"When you get to Heaven. I know that's where she is." She looked down.

"Will, you can tell her yourself."

She shook her head slowly. "I-I don't think I'm going there."

Xander didn't get a chance to respond, because the Messenger reappeared. "Xander. Please take my hand."

"Willow has to go to Heaven too." He pleaded.

"That is not my decision to make." She held out her hand.

"I'll see you. I will." He said tearfully to Willow as he faded away.

* * *

Willow stood in the waiting room for what seemed like hours, or even days, tortured by the thought that she might end up somewhere not with her friends and her beloved Tara. 

Finally the Messenger appeared.

"Well?"

"Your Decision has not yet been made. You are needed to assist."

Willow took her hand fearfully and suddenly she was standing in a room with a circle of figures around her.

"Willow Rosenberg." A female voice from one of the figures boomed.

"Y-yes that's me."

"Your Decision is not easy to make."

"I'm sorry." She squeaked.

"Do not apologize. In situations such as this, we like to bring the person in question in. We have reviewed your life." She waved her hand at a holograph near Willow in the circle, which started playing her life, very quickly, starting at birth. Soon she saw herself in kindergarten with Xander, and then before she knew it it was high school, and Buffy appeared. The figure waved her hand again and the images slowed down.

"Most of your life is not a problem. You were a good child, and kind to those around you. Then you met the slayer, and started helping in the fight against evil, though it put you in peril quite frequently."

Willow nodded. "I-I had to. Once you know that's out there, how can you not do whatever you can?"

The figure bowed its head, and zoomed the images along until college, and Oz's tryst with Veruca. Willow saw herself stop from doing the curse.

"You did not go through with it. But your magic was becoming a problem. You were not respectful of its power." Willow saw images of Giles blind, Xander fighting off hordes of demons, and Buffy making out with Spike, all courtesy of her spell. She hung her head.

"Then you met another witch." Willow's head popped back up as Tara came on the screen. She watched their first spell together, moving the soda machine to block out the Gentlemen, and her eyes filled with tears.

"Tara Maclay. She was more respectful of her magic, and for a time had a good influence on your magic. You began a romantic relationship with her."

Willow looked at the figure fearfully. "Um, that isn't uh..a problem is it?"

The figure waved its hand. "Of course not. Those on earth who say such things are distorting right and wrong by their own thoughts, not portraying ours."

Willow nodded in relief.

"But her mind was stolen, and you dipped into real black magic for the first time." She concluded. Willow saw herself with black eyes for the first time, attacking Glory. The tape zipped by. "Your friend Buffy the Vampire Slayer was killed, and you had the impudence to resurrect her."

"We…we thought she had been sucked into the demon dimension when she closed the portal. We didn't know she was in heaven."

"Regardless, changing life and death is a serious offense. That spell also seemed to start your decline into black magic, culminating when Tara Maclay was killed."

Willow closed her eyes. She'd known this was coming, knew it was the real reason she was here.

"You took two lives that day, and nearly destroyed the world. You would have killed your friend was she not the Slayer."

There was silence.

"You do not have an excuse for that?" she prodded.

Willow shook her head. "It was horribly wrong, and I know that's why I'm here. I don't deserve to go where Buffy and Tara and Xander went."

"Then why did you perform such heinous acts?" Her skinning of Warren was playing on the screen, and she winced.

"I was just so mad when Tara died, and once I sucked all the magic up…I couldn't control it."

"You believe you had no control over what you did?"

She shook her head. "I did, at first. I shouldn't have gone to the magic. I was clean then...I shouldn't have done it."

"Do you regret what you did?"

"Every second." She whispered.

"Very well. Since then, you learned to control magic more wisely, and eventually returned to fight again with your friends."

"I-I had to do magic again, to help them. I didn't want to, I was afraid of the darkness, but I had to be strong to save the Potentials and my friends."

"You did not fall back into the black magic."

Willow shook her head.

"Very well." The circle seemed to confer with each other, though Willow heard nothing. Then the leader spoke again.

"We have decided that the extraordinary circumstances of your life, though not an excuse for your actions, make this case extraordinary. And you did die fighting against the ultimate evil. Your Decision has been made. The Messenger will arrive shortly to escort you to Paradise."

Willow fell to her knees in relief as she found herself back in the waiting room. The Messenger arrived.

"Congratulations." She said with a smile, holding out her hand. "It isn't often that they call for a soul, and it's even rarer for the outcome to be this."

Willow just nodded, and took her hand.

* * *

In the blink of an eye, she found herself in a different world. Everything was slightly fuzzy, and there were other people moving about. There was clearly something holding her up, but she couldn't really see or feel a floor. 

One of the forms moved toward her, and it took her a few moments to grasp who it was.

"Tara!" she rushed forward to meet her, and the two souls connected.

Willow pulled out of the embrace, and being the science nerd she always was, she experimentally touched her girlfriend. Their bodies were solid, but pressing hard seemed to almost meld the two.

Tara smiled, and Willow felt the emotion of love radiating from her girlfriend as if it were transferable. "Things work differently here. You'll get used to it." The blonde's mouth didn't move, but Willow heard the words anyway. "It's like the think-talking on earth that you used to do. Everything is easier here, we don't need words." She explained.

Willow followed her lead. "Tara, I think they made a mistake, I shouldn't be here." Though her mouth wasn't making the sounds, she was shushed by Tara's gentle kiss.

"They don't make mistakes."

"But you don't understand. You didn't see what I did…"

"I know enough. Once you've been here a while, you start to be able to look in on the other world. I've been watching you."

Images of sex with Kennedy flooded Willow's mind.

Tara smirked. "Not then. And don't feel bad about it, I was happy that you were happy. I hoped it would be a long time before I saw you again, and I wanted your life to be filled with love, even if I couldn't be the one to give it to you."

Willow was amazed that she hardly felt any sadness thinking about that.

"It's a little strange, not feeling fear, or sadness, or worry, isn't it? You get used to that too, and it's wonderful."

Willow could have stood there forever, just reveling in the closeness to Tara.

"Buffy and Xander have been wondering where you were."  
"Where are they? I-I told Xander to tell you I loved you, in case I didn't get here."

"He told me, but we both knew you'd be telling me soon enough yourself. They're with Anya, and Joyce."

"Joyce! And…Anya? She died in the fight too?" It must have been the environment that made Willow not contemplate how the ex-demon had made it to Paradise.

"Yes. Saving Andrew's life. I was watching you all. That spell was amazing. Should we go see them?"  
As Willow nodded, she noticed that four of the nearby beings were the four people in question. She looked at Tara in questioning.

"It's the way things work here. I don't know how exactly."

"Willow!" Xander hugged her. "See, I told you we'd see you again."

Buffy was smushed up against her mom, and Anya was holding Xander's hand.

"I can't believe I forgot all these details when I came back." Buffy said. "But now I'm here, I remember seeing Mom and everyone."

"Thank you for taking care of my Dawn." Joyce said. "All of you."

"Joyce was so nice when I first got here." Tara added. "She said it was for taking care of Dawnie, but really she's like everyone's mom."

A thought occurred to Willow. "What about your own mom?"

Tara grinned, and a nearby form approached them. "She helped too of course. Mom, I want you to meet Willow."

Again Willow felt the radiating happiness from both Maclay women. "It's so nice to meet you. Your daughter is amazing. She means everything to me."

"I know, dear. It's good to meet you too."

The collected group couldn't have been happier. Most of the people who mattered were there with them, and they knew the rest were okay on earth.


End file.
